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I would like to applaud Jim Hightower for his column concerning the Republican Party’s fixation in favoring the superrich and Wall Street.

Presently, the Republican Party is saying “no” to any policy that will help citizens except for the superrich. But get this, they said “yes” to Wall Street, “Do anything you want to, we will not bother you.” They said “yes” to health insurance companies, “Increase premiums whenever you desire.” They said “yes” to credit card companies, “Increase interest, we will support you.” They said “yes” to corporations, “Move jobs overseas, we’ll give you a tax break.”

They said, “Teachers, policemen, firemen, we’ll give tax breaks to the wealthy but we will not help you.” They said, “Unemployed, we will not extend unemployment benefits.”

Just recently, they said, “Congress doesn’t need subpoena power for BP and others to tell the truth about the Gulf oil spill.” Republicans who oppose 37 million citizens having affordable health insurance say it will cause long lines at doctors’ offices and other facilities. Well, it sounds like jobs creation to me. More personnel and facilities needed. More paychecks, taxes and Social Security paid in, more shopping ladies, etc.

President Obama needs his crew. Remember 2008. We can’t go backward. November is coming.

PERRY MINNER/Lubbock

Rabbi grateful for support of Israel

Re: The article “Event aims to ‘promote an understanding between Christians and Jews’” (A-J, Oct. 7).

In 2006, Rev. John Hagee created the organization Christians United for Israel, for Christians to voice support of Israel.

For this support, I am profoundly grateful.

Israel deeply needs her allies and friends as she continues to fight for her existence and to fulfill her dreams of living in peaceful and respectful coexistence with her neighbors, mutually enriching the Middle East and indeed the world with her talents and vision.

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for seniors, younger workers and our children, we must begin the conversation about common-sense ways to reform both programs.

These are big things — but proposing cuts to these program would be an electoral disaster. If Republicans proposed real federal spending reductions they would get their hats handed to them in November. So they’re not going to do it. They're just not. And they're not going to do anything serious about cutting spending after the election either. Instead they're going to distract the rubes with some chatter about a problem that’s trifling. They'll (we'll) eat it up.

I would favor replacing the whole congress with a randomly selected group of sixth graders. They wouldn't get any more (or less) done but they would behave better.

Perry.....typical liberal. You say an individual showing $200,000 in AGI on an income tax return is "superrich". That kind of stuff won't work any more. Despite the liberal media (all of it except FoxNews) trying to hammer the point across to anybody that will listen and the President of the supposed United States campaining 24/7 for liberals, the democrats are still losing in the polls. How can you continue to stick with the likes of Pelosi and Reid and obama?

$1 trillion for healthcare "reform" that won't do anything to reduce medical expenses or health insurance premiums and it was passed against the will of the voters, according to the polling at the time and even now.

$800+ billion for stimulus that hasn't created any private-sector longer-term jobs.

Wall Street "reform" that puts ethnic hiring quotas on banks that do business with the fed (all of them) and makes it easier for the Federal Government to take over corporations.

Glad you're happy with your democrats. I'm tired of all the unsustainable spending and I know I'll get tired of all the tax increases that must be coming to pay for all of it.

VOTE NO TO RANDY AND YES TO ANDY.
Randy voted no for everything that would help the middle class and yes to all that help the rich. I know the Randy is a good ole boy as you all think but he is an total loss as a human.
VOTE NO TO RANDY

Frankly I'm a little scared when anybody refers to a president's administration or supporters as his/her "crew".

"Pennies do not come from heaven. They have to be earned here on earth."

"We want a society where people are free to make choices, to make mistakes, to be generous and compassionate. This is what we mean by a moral society; not a society where the state is responsible for everything, and no one is responsible for the state."

"Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They always run out of other people's money."

He certainly has all the standard Liberal clichés and buzz-words down pat, doesn't he? Nice memorization! I begin to wonder if there is a school somewhere that teaches Libs to recite their catechisms so well, sort of a "Hogwarts" for Lefties...

As to B Husseins "crew", they appear to be leaping off the sinking ship, along with other members of the rodentia. I heard last night that his popularity rating has reached another all time low.

Alright, those of you who complain about income levels and tax breaks... please post your AGI in your comments, so we know your background. Oh, none of my business??? Well, my best guess would be that most of you don't reach the lower limit of $200K, so what's your beef? If you're worried about gov't programs going broke, then we have to have revenues from somebody!

A1st- Not tryin' to start nuthin'...but maybe you're beginning to understand my frustration with Mr. ASittingUSPresidentWillProbablyCancelAnElection...I mean, Mr. Conservative. The same thing over and over certainly does lose its potency and does nothing to help its cause, does it not?

swcowan......Your question is "what's my beef" if taxes are raised on small business owners? Let's see........Less jobs? Less investment in plant and equipment? Less inventory purchases? Higher costs of goods and services? Less manufacturing? More jobs being farmed out overseas? More businesses being relocated overseas?

Yes to all of those. It will affect EVERYBODY!

I believe I saw in an article that tax increases on individuals with AGI over $200,000 and married filing jointly with AGI over $250,000 would raise taxes on 76,000 small businesses in the U.S. Seems like a lot to me. That's an average of 1,520/state. But if you consider the concentration of small businesses in TX and the lack of concentration in places like Alaska and Hawaii and small states like Rhode Island, I'd think Texas has a lot to lose.

ETA: The number of small businesses in the U.S. that would pay more taxes in 2011 if the Bush tax cuts for the "superrich" are allowed to expire is actually 750,000, according to the ultra-liberal New York Times.

I'm not gonna talk about small business owners and their tax rates unless/until you also admit they get a lot more deductions on taxes than an individual gets for earned income. If you are a small businessman, congrats for being successful these days. But I fail to see why making a CEO earning millions in pay should not pay his fair share in taxes... besides, he can surely more easily afford it, correct? And when Whittaker of GM, or Ford family board members only pay pittance in taxes, something is definitely wrong with the system.

"But I fail to see why making a CEO earning millions in pay should not pay his fair share in taxes... besides, he can surely more easily afford it, correct?"

What is a CEO's "fair" share?? Is it what YOU think he/she should pay or is it what the laws, statutes and regulations of this country dictate he/she should pay? So, if the law says his/her tax bracket is 35% and the law also allows a myriad of deductions and if the CEO legitimately avails himself of any deductions, then are you saying he/she should not take advantage of legal deductions and just pay 35% period??? If that particular CEO does not follow the law or hides income, then surely he/she is guilty of tax fraud and should be tried. If the CEO has paid taxes as per the laws of our country, hasn't he paid his "fair" share? Or, because he is "rich", do you want more than the law prescribes?

What bothers me in all these discussions is that people who have earned a greater income are somehow beholden to "give" a greater portion of their earnings to the government, so it can redistribute it to those with less income -- that is plain theft! Taxes were originally meant for governmental endeavors meant to benefit ALL equally, e.g. defense, roads, infrastructure, etc., but now have become a source of funding for social engineering. That is Marxist: as Marx said: "From those according to their ability to those according to their need". The kicker in all of that hogwash is "who" determines the amount to be taken and the amount to be given and to whom.

Who's to say that the CEO making $10 million a year doesn't need ALL of that to support their necessary expenses, e.g. mortgages on properties in NY, Vail and Monaco, household staff, entertainment, philanthropic donations, travel, etc? Maybe after all those expenses, the CEO has only $10,000 left to give to Uncle Sam. Perhaps, that should be his "fair" share.

swcowan....You fail to recognize that small business' income tax will increase if the tax rate is allowed to increase on those individuals showing AGI of $200,000 and married filing jointly showing AGI of $250,000. Until you realize that, we have absolutely nothing to discuss on this topic.

Small business' income is reflected on an individual's income tax return if the small business is a sole proprietorship, S-Corp, partnership, LLC, etc. Only a C-Corp pays its own taxes as an entity. All other entities' income is passed through to the individuals that own them.

C-Corporations may have more deductions than an individual, but that's not what we're discussing here. S-corps and all other entities with income passed through to the owners' individual tax return receive the same deductions that any other individual receives because the taxes are paid on an individual's tax return.

i really am in a fix on this because i think perry has been in office
long enough and we need some new blood in austin. but at the same time, i have friends in houston that tell me , don't vote for white, he left things in a mess here. and so far, he hasn't shown me much of a reason to vote for him.all he has done is throw mud at perry, they all do that, so, nothing new. so i guess i will hold my nose and vote for perry. maybe larry, curly or moe will run next time and we can really have a variety to choose from.